Now this
is where humans are different from all other life. You have learned how
you can use fuels to make energy to power machines like cars, planes and
computers. This way, you donít have to work so much and you can stay warm
without the fat, fur or feathers that other animals have. You get the
fuel to make all this extra energy mostly by digging it out of the ground
and burning it. This releases ancient energy stores - fossil
fuels - made by billions of tiny plants and animals which lived millions
of years ago. This stuff has been locked away underground ever since,
covered up by younger rocks that got laid down on top.

These fossil
fuels all come from underground; inside the Earth's crust. And that is
where they should stay because burning them does a lot of damage to the
air we all breathe, the oceans and living things on the land. I'll say
more about that later in this guide.

You
can burn any of these fuels, coal, oil
or gas, to make electricity
in power stations. How?
But electricity is only one form of energy used by people. The biggest
guzzlers of energy from burning fossil fuels are

keeping
homes and offices warm in winter and cool in summer

transport:
you know... cars,
buses, some trains, ships and aircraft

Fuels
for heating can be any fossil fuel though
people mostly use oil
or gas
because they're easier and less dirty. Today,
more and more gas comes fracking which
has good points and bad.